Life as it Comes
by passion4trinity
Summary: Sequel to "Of Mutes and Friends", but can be read alone. The Marauders are older are just trying to deal with everyday life.
1. Default Chapter

Disclaimer: Yeah, I don't really own this. I don't really own anything. Sniffles oh well.

This is the sequel to my other story "Of Mutes and Friends" but I guess it can be read alone.

Chapter 1

"James! Sirius! We have to go now, or you'll miss the train and be stuck here for the rest of your lives," yelled Mrs. Potter from the bottom of the stairs. She grinned as two dark heads poked over the edge of the stairs, both looking somewhat guilty.

"Sorry, Mum," yelled out the boy with messy dark hair and glasses. He grinned slightly and pushed his trunk down the stairs, letting it slide down freely. The boy next to him with straight dark hair and piercing blue eyes followed suit and pushed his as well.

Mrs. Potter's eyes widened and she immediately pulled out her wand to slow down the trunks, to avoid them crashing into and breaking things. As the trunks pulled to a complete stop, Mrs. Potter turned her mildly angry, yet frustrated and exasperated glare to the two boys.

"James Potter, Sirius Black, get down here NOW!" she shrieked. Not only were the growing increasingly late, but she was really tired of dealing with their crazy ideas.

Both boys walked down the stairs sheepishly, yet trying to conceal smiles that showed that they had not qualms about their behavior.

"Sorry, Mum," James said, pushing his glasses back up his nose as they slid down when he jumped down the stairs.

"Yeah, sorry Mrs. P.," agreed Sirius, shaking back his raven black hair, and smiling charmingly at her.

Mrs. Potter rolled her eyes. They would always do that. She found it almost impossible to punish the two, even though they deserved it more than any other thirteen year olds she knew did. "Alright, no need to gaze at me so forlornly," she muttered, placing a levitating charm on the trunks and leading them out the door.

James watched her leave and nudged his best friend in the ribs. "Come on, man. We don't want to miss our first day back, do we?"

Sirius shrugged and grinned, following James out of the house and to their car. "Whatever works, man," he muttered. They filed into the car and gazed out the window as the car pulled away from the Potter residence.

Sirius sighed and leaned into the seat. That had been a good summer break, the first completely awesome one that he had ever had, if he could remember past events correctly. You see, Sirius lived with the Potters after his parents had kicked him out. Sirius had been found by James when both were only eight years old. Before Sirius had been kicked out, though, his mother had placed a curse on him.

Sirius was mute, but not always. His mother had tired of the sound of his voice and cursed him because of it. As such, Sirius hadn't been able to speak until the Christmas break of his first year. He had gone home, as demanded by his parents, and had gotten beaten up. He had run away, passed out, and when he woke up, he was able to speak again and at the Potters' house.

Now, most of the time, he was able to speak and lived with the Potters during any school breaks. However, there was the chance that he would lose his voice again. During his second year, he had started getting ill and the school nurse thought that it was the medication that he was taking to restore his voice that was making him ill. He had been off of it for six months and so far he had only had his normal voice loss moments.

"Are you two ready for a new year?" asked Mr. Potter as he drove them to the station, breaking into Sirius's thoughts.

James shrugged. "Define ready," he said, glancing at his father. He generally disliked school and saw it as a waste of time. He was intelligent and already knew quite a bit of the things that the teachers were teaching on.

Mr. Potter rolled his eyes and laughed at the same time. Mrs. Potter turned to look at the two boys. "Just think, another year for you to see your friends, pull pranks, get detention, causing havoc, doing basically anything that doesn't get you expelled but manages to get several letters sent to us, etc."

"We're not that bad, are we?" asked Sirius, a smile on his face as he entered the conversation.

Mrs. Potter pretended to think about it and then nodded. "I'm afraid so. After I got the letter about you cursing the toilets to…erm, well, I'd rather not elaborate."

Both boys laughed and began chatting about previous pranks and upcoming pranks that they thought were brilliant ideas. Mrs. Potter tuned them out while Mr. Potter concentrated on driving.

All too soon, for Mr. and Mrs. Potter anyways, they arrived at the station and helped James and Sirius take their trunks into the station and then on the platform. As they appeared on Platform 9 ¾, they were immediately greeted by Remus, who was dragging his parents over to meet the Potters. Their parents, after saying good bye to James and Sirius, began chatting with the Lupins.

James rolled his eyes and led the way to the train and then to find seats. They were able to find one rather easily, although they did have to kick a first year out, and then settled themselves down, chatting about their summer breaks.

"So what did you do?" asked Remus, looking at his friends happily.

"We researched," answered Sirius proudly. Recently they had discovered that Remus was a werewolf and had decided to help him by becoming animagi. It was a lot more difficult than they had originally thought it would be and they spent every moment that they could find the patience for sitting and reading through it. It had not been easy to convince Remus to let them help him out. In the end he had agreed, but had made them promise to give it up if they felt at all endangered.

"Did you find anything out?"

"No, not really," muttered James, looking slightly sheepish and downtrodden.

Just then the door opened and Lily Evans walked in. James looked at her and grinned slightly. It was a well known fact that James had a huge crush on the beautiful red head. It was also a well known fact that Lily Evans could hardly tolerate being around James. She considered him to be highly arrogant and childish. However, she was Remus's friend and that, by all laws of friendship, made it almost impossible for her to hate either James Potter or Sirius Black.

"Hey, Remus," she greeted cheerfully and then turned to James and Sirius, nodding slightly as she said, "James, Sirius. I trust all your holidays were alright."

Sirius shrugged and James was too wrapped up in staring at Lily to answer. Remus rolled his eyes and laughed. "Yes, they had excellent breaks and so did I."

"That time of month wasn't too hard on you, was it?" she asked in a hushed voice. She had figured it out around the same time that Sirius had confirmed it. She had confronted him about it a few days after the full moon and he had confessed everything to her.

Remus shrugged. "It was neither harder nor easier than usual," he responded, sounding philosophical. Lily looked saddened for a moment before hearing her name being called by her best friend. She glanced apologetically at Remus and nodded farewell to James, who was still engrossed in staring at her, and Sirius, who was so bored that he was nodding off.

Silence filled the compartment after her departure. Sirius managed to break it, saying, "Well, what do you wanna do?"

At those words, James seemed to break out of his thoughts and looked at Sirius, a dumb grin spreading over his face.

"What's wrong now, James?" asked Remus, exasperation filling his voice.

James just shook his head and grinned. "She's hot!"

A.N. How was that for the beginning of a sequel? Lol. I know, it sucks. Oh well. Please review and happy living!


	2. The New Kid

Chapter 2

They arrived at Hogwarts, late like usual. Sirius stood up as soon as the train came to a halt and stretched his cramped legs. Sitting still for that long did not agree with him. Usually he was bouncy and causing pranks and planning pranks and anything else that could get him into trouble. He was tired though, after getting no sleep the night before on account of unending excitement and hyperness. All of the nights that he had stayed up later were finally catching up with him.

James stood up and glanced at Remus, who appeared to be dozing off. It had been an unusually quiet ride, much to James's disappointment. He liked loudness and excitement at all times, no matter what time it was (unless it was early in the morning and all he wanted to do was sleep). "Come on Remus," James muttered, gently shaking his shoulder.

Remus opened his eyes slowly and gazed around. He winced he became aware of a headache. "Bloody full moon," he muttered almost inaudibly. Both James and Sirius grinned, though, apparently hearing him. They seldom heard their quiet friend complain, whereas they complained constantly. So when he did, they both were completely satisfied to find that their friend was human.

"Ready for another school year?" Sirius asked as he trailed after James, who was leading the way off the train.

"Sure, why not?" answered Remus from behind him, still sounding half asleep.

"Of course," an exuberant James replied, seeming to be containing too much energy. Sirius was almost surprised that he didn't explode from all of his enthusiasm.

"How 'bout you, Sirius?" questioned Remus, always the one to try to include everyone in a conversation.

Sirius shrugged and hopped out of the train, standing next to James. "I don't know. It's great to be back, but I _really_ don't want to do more homework. I hate it. I always get behind with my homework-"

"Because you don't do it," mumbled Remus innocently. James smiled at this comment as he attempted to find an empty carriage. Neither Sirius nor he ever really did their work. They just got by because of their natural talent and mentality.

"Right, because I don't do it, and then my grade goes down a lot. But then I'll turn everything in and prove that I can do the material and then my grade goes back up. And then we'll start another section and the same thing will happen. It's a never-ending cycle, I tell you."

James chuckled slightly and climbed into the first mildly empty carriage he found. Inside was a pudgy boy with blond hair and squinty blue eyes. He looked up as James opened the door and got in, but didn't say anything. He just sat there, watching the three boys.

Behind James, Sirius was still complaining about the school cycle and didn't even notice the boy until he stepped on his foot.

"Ouch!" the boy exclaimed, throwing a nasty glare at Sirius. Sirius put up both hands, a gesture to say that he was sorry.

"Dude, I'm sorry, I was talking and wasn't watching where I was going," he explained, his voice begging for forgiveness. Sirius didn't like hurting people and genuinely was sorry whenever he did. Well…the Slytherins were an exception for this genuine feeling of remorse.

The boy shook his head slightly, his blond hair flopping slightly as he did so. Internally, Sirius couldn't help but think what a loser this was. "It's okay," the boy replied, his voice sounding nasally and unused.

Sirius grinned slightly and sat down next to James, not wanting to sit next to the odd boy. Remus sat next to the boy and threw James and Sirius a glance that told of his dissatisfaction with the seating arrangement. Both boys were able to ignore the glance without feeling any remorse and began a conversation about new pranks with a clear conscience.

Remus looked at the boy, tuning out his two friends. He had gone back to staring out the window, but he was listening intently to the conversation between James and Sirius. Remus decided that he must be new to the school, as he didn't appear to be a first year and Remus had never seen him before.

Just as Remus was about to open his mouth to ask the boy something, Sirius hit him gently on the shoulder and pointed at the school, which the carriage had just pulled up to. "Look at that!" exclaimed Sirius, pointing at Snape, who had apparently just fallen on the steps. People around him were laughing and pointing.

Remus rolled his eyes and turned back to the new kid, only to find that he had already gotten out and vanished. Raising his eyebrows, he glanced around quickly and, when he found that he wasn't anywhere in sight, got out of the carriage carefully. He did not want to fall and get laughed at as well. Although he didn't necessarily like the fact, Remus was incredibly sensitive to others' opinions and he would be the first to admit it.

Remus wasn't strong and tough like James and Sirius. Ever since he had been bitten, he was always terrified of rejection, since he faced so much of it. And considering the fact that he already faced so much ridicule for being a werewolf, he liked avoiding any other type of insulting and bullying.

"Hmm," sighed James, as they walked up the stairs and into the castle that was their home away from home, "welcome to another year, my companions."

"Yeah," laughed Sirius, "another year of pulling pranks, torturing Slytherins, and teasing Evans."

"Also for studying and learning," reminded Remus, looking around wildly.

"Fun-sucker," muttered James, glancing at Remus with mock disapproval in his eyes. When he saw Remus glancing all around the hall, he asked, "What's wrong? Expecting something to come and drop something on your head or throw something on your head?"

At that moment, Peeves, the school poltergeist, appeared through the walls and poured a bucket of water over James's head. James staggered back as the freezing water hit him.

Sirius stared at him, his blue eyes twinkling as he fought back his laughter. Remus smiled a knowing smile and shook his head briefly. "No, I was just thinking about our general wellbeing as a whole."

James shook the water out of his hair in a very doglike fashion. "Thanks for your concern, mate," he muttered, grabbing Sirius's sleeve and wiping off his dripping face. Sirius pulled away, apparently disgruntled and James threw up his hands in frustration. "Goodness, I have such helpful friends."

Professor McGonagall came into the Great Hall, took one glance at James, and sighed. "What did you do now, Potter?" she asked, looking at the wet, slippery floor.

James opened his mouth in disbelief, but Sirius intervened before he could say anything. "It actually wasn't his fault this time, Professor," he said, defending his best friend.

Professor McGonagall raised her eyebrows at his comment. "Very well then, might as well get you dried up then." She waved her wand and James felt warmth on his wet skin. Within seconds, James's clothing was all dry, with no trace of them being wet in the first place.

With that task done, she gestured in an urgent fashion for them to enter the Great Hall and take their seats and then she left to go assist the first years. James watched as she walked away and then turned to go into the Great Hall. "I can't believe she thought that I had done something," he muttered.

"Well," began Remus, "you do kind of cause a lot of problems. And you do things rather randomly. And you do-"

"Remus!" exclaimed James, throwing him a dirty look.

"Yeah?"

"Shut up."

A.N. I'm so sorry that that chapter took so long. I actually forgot that I had started another story until I looked at my name thing. Either way, I've had no time until recently to do any homework. I'm trying to learn how to drive…oooh! Anyways, please review and forgive my lack of consistency.


	3. Peter Pettigrew

Chapter 3

They sat down at the Gryffindor table and impatiently waited for the sorting ceremony to begin, or at least James and Sirius were impatient. Remus, however, sat nodding his greeting to people he knew and glaring at the Slytherins randomly. Although Remus didn't like confrontation, that didn't mean that he didn't enjoy mild taunting…as long as the Slytherins didn't come too close.

Just then the doors opened and Professor McGonagall marched in with the first years trailing behind her. They looked nervous, scared, amazed, and small. Each of them was looking all around them, craning their necks as if they were trying to see everything at once. Remus grinned at them. He remembered his first day. He had been scared as well, and nervous that he wouldn't be placed in a house at all because of his condition.

Professor McGonagall stopped at the front of the Great Hall and the first years all gathered around her. Then the hat began to sing. Remus found it amusing how the first years' faces immediately expressed shock and relief. He glanced at James and Sirius, who appeared to be listening raptly to the song that the hat was singing. Chuckling to himself slightly, Remus realized that his two friends enjoyed the song immensely, as it was their favorite part.

"When I call your last name, please come up and put the hat on. Then you will be sorted into your houses," Professor McGonagall called out after the hat had finished singing. Remus glanced back over to James and Sirius, who had lost interest once the song had ended. Remus rolled his eyes and focused on the sorting to see how many of the first years would become Gryffindors.

"Albertson, Jessica."

A scared looking little girl walked forward, her dark hair falling into her eyes. Remus smiled slightly. _"Poor kid,"_ he thought.

"Ravenclaw!" the hat yelled out, much to the small girl's relief. She took the hat off and walked to her new house.

"Benson, Joshua."

"Hey Remus," whispered Sirius, poking him in the shoulder. With raised eyebrows, Remus glanced over at his dark haired friends.

"Yes?" he asked softly. Dimly he heard "Slytherin" being yelled in the background.

"Any brilliant prank ideas?" questioned James.

"Yeah," agreed Sirius. The two of them had been sitting there, thinking about it intently. For some reason they couldn't come up with anything that was worth attempting.

Remus rolled his eyes. "I don't know. Why don't you turn something of theirs pink and…I don't know, have it follow them around all day."

When he saw the gleam that instantly appeared in James's brown eyes and in Sirius's blue eyes, Remus instantly regretted saying anything. He had seriously hoped that they wouldn't take him seriously. The next instance, however, they had their heads close together and were whispering their newfound plans to each other.

_"Crap,"_ Remus thought forlornly. _"That was a really bad idea."_

He sighed and turned his focus back to the sorting. Now that half of the first years were gone, he could see the new kid who had ridden in their carriage. He was standing poised and with an arrogant air that was obviously feigned. Remus was willing to bet that his family was a pureblooded one. That meant that he would probably be in Slytherin. Then again, Sirius was pureblood and had an evil family who believed that purebloods were better than everyone else and he was in Gryffindor. _"His family disowned him though, and they dislike each other immensely, and Sirius refuses to believe in his parents' teachings," _Remus though to himself, now eagerly awaiting the boy's sorting to see if his prediction was correct.

It was a long time before he knew, though. After all of the first years were sorted, the boy with blond hair remained standing there, now looking a bit confused and worried. He glanced over his shoulder at all of the other students. His gaze ended up meeting Remus's, who smiled encouragingly at him. The boy gave a small half smile as well before turning back to the front to look at Professor McGonagall and Dumbledore.

Professor Dumbledore stood up and the dull roar of chattering in the hall immediately became silent. He grinned at all of his students, opening his arms wide as if to give them all a hug of greeting, like a grandfather would to a grandchild that he seldom saw. Remus felt himself grinning at that thought. "Welcome to a new year," he said. His blue eyes were twinkling and a soft grin was on his face. "Before we feast, I wanted to introduce you to our newest exchange student. He has come from the United States of America. He is in his third year and I'm assuming you are all going to make him feel welcome."

Professor Dumbledore sat down and Professor McGonagall called out, "Pettigrew, Peter."

Peter, now having lost all of his composure, looked nervous as he walked up to the stool somewhat hesitantly. He sat down on the stool and McGonagall placed the hat on his head. Remus watched him and even James and Sirius were able to draw their attention away from their planning to see where this new student would go. "Dude," muttered Sirius in Remus's ear. "It's taking a long time!"

Remus rolled his eyes and tuned him out. Indeed it was taking a long time. Even longer than his sorting had. _"I wonder what the hat's saying and what's preventing it from sorting Peter into a house,_" wondered Remus, beginning to grow tired of waiting for the hat's verdict.

"Gryffindor!" the hat shouted out eventually. Remus laughed slightly as Peter took off the hat and regained his haughty manner. Slowly, he made his way to the Gryffindor table and sat down at the far end, ignoring all of the congratulations of his housemates. Remus raised his eyebrows at that and turned towards James and Sirius who both shrugged in mild confusion. It didn't seem like the new boy was very…nice.

"He's probably just trying to…adapt," muttered Remus to his friends, who again shrugged.

"Whatever," muttered Sirius and looked up again as Dumbledore stood up, demanding silence again.

"Alright, now that we have finished with the sorting, there is only one thing I have to say," he paused for effect, gazing around his students happily. "Eat up!"

A.N. alright, that was a fun chapter. Please review, even if I don't deserve it. Thank you for reading this!


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